Experiencing profound loss, Benjamin seems ready to abandon the cause. As Benjamin is grief-stricken at the side of his dead son, Colonel Harry Burwell, a Continental officer, endeavors to convince Benjamin not to quit. The colonel realizes Benjamin’s influence with the other soldiers is enormous and his departure would greatly discourage the troops. Although the movie removes the uncertainty later, initially the viewer is left to contemplate whether or not a devastated Benjamin will “stay the course” as Colonel Burwell has encouraged him to do.

Mark’s account of the resurrection has always fascinated me. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bring spices in order to anoint the dead body of Jesus. They had been wondering who would roll away the stone from the grave, but when they arrived, they found the stone (which Mark adds “was very large”) already had been rolled back. As they stand at the entrance of the empty tomb, a young man dressed in a white robe says to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7).

The next verse is what I find so intriguing. The Bible says, the women “went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (v. 8). Practically all scholars of the Bible agree that Mark’s account is the earliest of the four accounts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Scholars also widely agree that the most ancient manuscripts bring Mark’s Gospel to a close at the end of verse 8. In other words, Mark’s readers are left to wonder how the women will respond to the news of the resurrection of Christ.

While Luke 24:8-9 makes clear the response of the women, (“Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest”), I am convinced that just as Mark wanted his readers to contemplate what the women’s response would be, so too, he wants us to contemplate how we will respond to the message of Easter. The instructions given by the young man dressed in white really were quite simple: “Go and tell.” Have you told anybody lately?

Tracy Jessup is vice president for Christian Life and Service and senior minister to the university at Gardner-Webb University.

Experiencing profound loss, Benjamin seems ready to abandon the cause. As Benjamin is grief-stricken at the side of his dead son, Colonel Harry Burwell, a Continental officer, endeavors to convince Benjamin not to quit. The colonel realizes Benjamin’s influence with the other soldiers is enormous and his departure would greatly discourage the troops. Although the movie removes the uncertainty later, initially the viewer is left to contemplate whether or not a devastated Benjamin will “stay the course” as Colonel Burwell has encouraged him to do.

Mark’s account of the resurrection has always fascinated me. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bring spices in order to anoint the dead body of Jesus. They had been wondering who would roll away the stone from the grave, but when they arrived, they found the stone (which Mark adds “was very large”) already had been rolled back. As they stand at the entrance of the empty tomb, a young man dressed in a white robe says to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you” (Mark 16:6-7).

The next verse is what I find so intriguing. The Bible says, the women “went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (v. 8). Practically all scholars of the Bible agree that Mark’s account is the earliest of the four accounts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Scholars also widely agree that the most ancient manuscripts bring Mark’s Gospel to a close at the end of verse 8. In other words, Mark’s readers are left to wonder how the women will respond to the news of the resurrection of Christ.

While Luke 24:8-9 makes clear the response of the women, (“Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest”), I am convinced that just as Mark wanted his readers to contemplate what the women’s response would be, so too, he wants us to contemplate how we will respond to the message of Easter. The instructions given by the young man dressed in white really were quite simple: “Go and tell.” Have you told anybody lately?

Tracy Jessup is vice president for Christian Life and Service and senior minister to the university at Gardner-Webb University.

THIS WEEK’S PRAYER: Lord, help me be faithful to go and tell, sharing with others the love you have demonstrated towards us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.